In hindsight, this chapter is a little short. Sorry, Aragorn fans. I'll do another one soon.

5

ARAGORN

Well, I suppose it wasn't a totally catastrophic start to the year. I mean, aside from people's personal problems, things are actually going okay. Éomer is in a lot of my classes, and Arwen is in third-period English with me, so I certainly lucked out in terms of scheduling. I forgot how much I miss these people, when I was gone over the summer. It's great to be in the middle of things again... Wow, never thought I'd be saying that! Last year I was all about getting away from everything, being my own man... I guess two months on my own up north cured me of the hermit disease. That and the blackflies... Honestly, I now worship DEET.

I'm having girl troubles though, immature as that sounds. Arwen is totally stressed out, and I don't know what to say to her. Of course, Éomer is no help – all he ever says regarding the matter is "PMS!" and then laughs. God only knows why the ladies find him so attractive. His little sister is my other problem – this is going to sound a little weird. I had this odd feeling that she had... you know, a crush on me, or something. She didn't actually ever say anything, it's just... I don't know, maybe the way she looks at me? So I was kind of feeling uncomfortable about it, kind of not talking to her as much. But then I got to thinking, how arrogant is that, just assuming every girl who's nice to you is in love with you? So now I'm being friendly with her again. It's all very confusing.

But anyway, back to the Arwen thing. She was so odd at dinner the other day! She asked Elrond if he thought she looked fat. Yeah, really! Five-foot- nine and a hundred and fifteen pounds... That's friggin' obese. Of course, Elrond just laughed and said, "Elves can't get fat, dear. That's a human thing." Well, it's true, I guess... Also a "hobbit thing," and a "dwarf thing," though, which dear old Peredhil failed to remember on this occasion.

I think I ought to do something for her, something nice, just to make her feel better. I should write her a song, or something. Not that I'm very good at it, but I kind of know the elvish style, what with practically being an honourary elf myself. Or I could get Boromir's brother to write me one... That would be cool. Or maybe I'll just get her some flowers.

So, on a more relaxed note, I figure I'll go hang with Éomer at his uncle's house tomorrow. Aside from the hobbits' places, it's the best place to be if you want to have fun. His uncle Théo is such a cool old guy, and seems to think we're all the greatest kids on Earth. He also sees no need to restrict alcohol – so things can, on occasion, get a little messy. Fun, but messy.

I guess I'm sort of hoping Éowyn won't be there – but that's just stupid, isn't it? She probably has no interest in me whatsoever. Maybe I ought to ask Éomer about it... But that would be even more stupid. Huh... You'd think I, of all people, would be more self-assured. Just goes to show...

So I guess that's the plan. Wish me luck... Let's hope I won't need it.

Little survey: Should I ressurect Théodred? I'm leaning towards "no", just because I don't have much to work with in terms of references to his personality, but if there are any Théodred fangirl/boys out there (a rare breed), yell at me and I might reconsider.